Trying to Forget You
by bandura
Summary: [Modern AU] How far will you go just to move on from your first love? After graduating high school Hinata makes some tough decisions about how she will move on when she can't be with the one she loves. She moves far away from her home, her family, and her friends, but when she returns, it's clear that nothing is the same.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone! This is my first time writing a story and publishing it here. Please read and review! This is my first story so any kind of help and critique will be appreciated. But please refrain from writing negative comments that aren't helpful. I really want to get some feedback from you guys. I hope you enjoy reading it!**_

 _ **The story is going to start off slow but there will be some time-jumps later on so just bear with me.**_

 **Chapter 1**

It was the last day of school at Konoha High, and all the student were gathered in the hallways or around their friends lockers discussing plans about summer. Among these students was a pale-eyed girl named Hinata who was eagerly waiting for her crush, Naruto. She was waiting by the exit behind the school because she knew that Naruto always took this path home. Gathering up all her courage, Hinata had made a decision that day to confess her feelings for Naruto, and she was not about to back down from it now.

She had always liked Naruto from the beginning, when they first met. It started as admiration for his courage and bravery when he saved her from her bullies. Even though he got beaten up pretty badly, he still did not back down from helping people who needed it. He had a kind heart, and was never afraid to do what he believed in, and that was what attracted Hinata towards him. After years of watching him grow up and go against life's adversities with a smile on his face, Hinata began to realize that she wanted to be just like him. She began following his footsteps in hope that she could gain a fraction of self-confidence. After starting high school, Hinata started to see Naruto in a different light. She always knew that she liked him but she never imagined that it would develop into a romantic kind of attraction. She began blushing and stuttering even more than usual around Naruto, and he was none the wiser in figuring out the change in her actions around him. He always thought that she was kind of weird and emo, but he never let that stop him from being her friend. When Hinata finally figured out that she was falling head-over-heels for Naruto, and it was not changing anytime soon, she decided to confess her feelings to him in hopes of becoming closer to him. She wanted nothing more than to be noticed by him, which is why she always strived to do her best in everything she did. Her motivation had not been her father who always scolded her for her weaknesses and shortcomings, it was Naruto who had always inspired her to do her best.

When Hinata finally saw a blonde headed boy approach the school exit she was waiting by, her hands immediately began sweating and her nervousness threatened her to clam up. She pushed aside any self-doubt and anxiety, because she had made a decision and she was not about to back out now.

"Hello Naruto," Hinata said as he approached her with a smile on his face.

"Hey Hinata! What are you doing here? Don't you always leave from the front." asked Naruto.

"Um, yes I do but I just wanted to see you before we left school and started our summer vacations."

"Oh that's right! You're going away on that trip with your family, and I'm gonna go with my godfather to train for that martial arts tournament at the end of summer. You're gonna be here for that, right? I heard there's gonna be a lot of competition from different cities, and since it'll be in Konoha this year all of you guys can come and watch me beat everyone's ass!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air and laughed as he imagined winning the tournament.

Hinata giggled at Naruto's enthusiasm. She always found it endearing when he talked about the things he loved doing. "Yes, Naruto. I'll be back by then so I will definitely come to watch. Also, my cousin, Neji, will be competing this year too."

"Really? No offense, but that guy always freaks me out. He's just like Sasuke who's always quiet and thinks he's better than anyone, but your cousin can be very rude at times too."

"I know, he's just not good with people." replied Hinata. What Naruto didn't know was that the reason why Neji was so rude to him was not only because he thought he was a loser, but also because he thought he was a loser who didn't deserve Hinata's affection, she was too good for him. Yes, Neji knew about Hinata's crush and did not approve of it one bit which is why he hated Naruto more than he hated anyone else. He thought of it as his duty as her older cousin, but more like her older brother, to keep Naruto away from Hinata.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I don't really pay much attention to him and his death glares. He can think of me however he wants because I don't care. Hmph!... So do you wanna walk with me? I can walk with you halfway to your house so we can talk even more before you leave." Naruto suggested

"Sure Naruto." Hinata began walking side-by-side with Naruto as they talked about their plans for the summer. When they reached the halfway point to her house, they stopped walking. Naruto was about to say his farewell to Hinata when she cut him off.

"Um, Naruto, there's something I want to tell you." Hinata looked up to Naruto to see if he was listening. He nodded his head to beckon her to continue. "I've been thinking about it for a while, trying to figure out how to say it properly, and today I just decided that I should do it. So,…" Hinata took a deep breath in before she continued. "I like you, Naruto. I've liked you for a while, but I never had the courage to tell you, until now." Hinata mentally patted herself on the back. She was proud that she did not stutter, or break eye contact with Naruto through out her entire confession.

Naruto stood there for a while staring at the girl in front of him. He was shocked to say the least because he never knew that she liked him like that… _Unless,_ he thought, _I'm taking it the wrong way. I mean why would she like me as more than a friend. She's rich and practically like royalty, and I'm just a poor orphan with a pervy godfather! Plus, I'm in love with Sakura and she knows that so why would she tell me that she likes me, unless she just means that she likes me as a friend. Right? I mean that is the only explanation that makes sense._ Naruto contemplated this in his mind while Hinata stood there waiting anxiously for him to say something.

"Uhhh…thanks…?...ummm…I'm flattered that you like me… I like you too. In fact you're one of my precious friends. I mean you've been to almost all my martial arts competitions and you always cheer me on. It means a lot to me to know that I have a friend who believes in me so much. So, thank you." Naruto smiled as he tried to bring Hinata at ease because he could see how anxious she was. _She's probably anxious because she thought I took it the wrong way. I know better than to think something impossible like that,_ thought Naruto.

Hinata didn't know what to say. To her it seemed like Naruto tried to evade her confession on purpose. _He doesn't like me,_ thought Hinata. _Why would he? I'm not as pretty as Sakura or outgoing or fun like any of the other girls in school. He probably thinks that I'm too weird and doesn't want to hurt my feelings so he said all those things to make me feel better. But I know now. I should've known all along. Naruto is too kind and I mistook that. He always appreciates my support for him and his ambitions but he would feel the same if it were any of his other friends. I shouldn't make this any more awkward than it I've already done._

"No problem Naruto." Hinata tried to smile her most convincing smile. She didn't want him to think that she was hurt. She was hurting inside because she thought Naruto downplayed her confession on purpose, but she wasn't going to let him know that. _I'll just have to move on because it's obvious that he could never want to be more than friends with a girl like me. But I'll always be there for you, Naruto. Even if you don't want to be with me, you've already helped become a better person. So, thank you._ She wanted to say all that to him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it so instead she waved her goodbye to Naruto and turned around to head home. She walked as normally as she could so as not to seem that she was trying to run away from him. She wouldn't let him see how much he affected her, because she knew that he was too kind and would never let her go until he was sure that she was okay. But that would've made it worse since he was the cause and she didn't want to see him at the moment.

Naruto watched Hinata's receding form as she walked away. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as if telling him that things were never going to be the same from now on, but he brushed that feeling away as he walked the opposite direction from Hinata's and headed home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

That was almost two years ago. It was the end of their tenth grade when Hinata had confessed her feelings to Naruto. A lot had changed from that point in time. That summer Naruto went on to win the martial arts tournament. He even beat Neji towards the end of the match when everyone thought that he had lost. Since the, Neji still remained as quiet and reserved as ever, but he did acknowledge Naruto's skill. He even stopped being rude to him. After that summer had ended and their junior year at high school started, people found out that Sasuke and Sakura were a couple. Naruto was devastated when he found out but he never let it show except for Hinata who saw through his mask. Sasuke and Sakura dated for a year until the summer before their senior year when Sasuke broke up with her. That year Sasuke moved away from Konoha in the middle of his first semester. Nobody knew why he left, not even his best friend Naruto was aware of his move until it had already happened. Rumors started spreading that he moved because of Sakura, or he was kidnapped, or he dropped out and joined a punk rock band. None of these were true since no one really knew why he left. Soon people forgot about him and went on with their lives. When second semester started, which was roughly six months after Sasuke and Sakura had broken up, people saw Naruto and Sakura becoming closer than ever. Rumor mills started again where people assumed that they were dating now. Nothing was official until Naruto asked Sakura in front of everyone to be his date to the prom.

It started as any other day at school, except there were two weeks left before prom. It was prom season and people were being asked left and right. Not a day went be that when somebody wasn't asked. Almost all the seniors had a date except for a few which included Naruto, Sakura and Hinata. Hinata didn't have any hope of being asked to prom. All her girl friends had been asked except for Sakura and she had a pretty good idea that soon she would be the only one left. Naruto had asked Hinata's help in trying to figure out the best way to ask Sakura to prom. They had spent an entire month coming with ideas but Naruto never liked any of them. It was when his favorite teacher, Iruka, offered his help that Naruto finally came up with an idea he liked. He new Sakura was smart and was always prepared at school so he had to figure out a way to surprise. Hinata gave some tips and even helped him set up for his plan. Through out the entire ordeal Hinata couldn't help but feel sad and depressed. It wasn't long ago that she had imagined Naruto doing all this stuff for her instead of Sakura, but that was just imagination, not a reality. She would always shake those thoughts off and reprimand herself for thinking like that. She never had a chance from the beginning and she didn't need to think that she could ever have a chance either.

During the last period, their teacher, Iruka, announced that there was going to be a pop quiz. He gave everyone the quiz while they complained about it. Sakura, on the other hand, was not upset. She always studied her notes and textbook after school so she was caught up and prepared with everything. But when she looked at the quiz she realized how bizarre and confusing each question was.

 _What kind of questions are these,_ thought Sakura. _What happens when you get scared half to death twice, because that's how I'm feeling right now? Does it still count if I buy you flowers without knowing their meaning? Do you want a limo or is my car fine? What the hell is this! What is Mr. Iruka trying to test us on!?_ Sakura shuffled through all the questions on the quiz without knowing that everyone in the class had stopped and turned towards her, waiting for her to realize. It was when she got to the last question that she realized what was happening.

 _Will you go to prom with me, Sakura?_ Sakura's heart began beating fast as she read this question. Slowly looking up, she saw all her classmates smiling at her. In the back stood a blonde boy with a bouquet of red and pink roses. He also held a box of her favorite chocolate and a small, fluffy teddy bear. She stared at Naruto as he walked up to her desk. He went down on one knee right beside her desk and asked her.

"Sakura, will you go to prom with me?" he had a gentle smile on his face as his eyes looked into her emerald ones.

A smile slowly formed on Sakura's lips as she whispered, "Yes, Ill go with you."

Naruto pumped one fist in the air as he yelled, "She said yes!"

Everyone started clapping while Sakura hugged Naruto. He gave her the gifts as she thanked him without ever losing her smile. She was truly happy. The school bell rang signaling that it was the end of the day. Everyone started packing and Naruto helped Sakura with her stuff.

Hinata sat in her seat when and saw the couple interact. They looked happy. She could see it in their eyes when they looked at each other. She tried feeling happy too, for her friends, but she couldn't help but let her sorrow take over only for a second. Her train of thought went back to her imaginary life with Naruto where he was asking her to prom. She caught herself again from going any deeper into that thought. _I really need to stop that. It isn't helping me. It'll only make this worse,_ thought Hinata as she packed her bag and headed towards her locker.

As she was getting her books from her locker someone came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw that it was Naruto.

"Thanks for everything! I couldn't have done that without your help." Naruto said this as he smiled to Hinata.

"It was nothing, Naruto. I just knew you wouldn't be able to pull something off without my help."

"Hey! That was all my idea! It's not my fault I don't watch sappy romance movies to know what's romantic or not!" Hinata giggled at how flustered Naruto looked. He saw that and began laughing too.

"I was just kidding. You really didn't need my help in the end," said Hinata.

"Don't be silly. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have known what flowers to get. She really liked them. For a second I was afraid she was gonna say no and smack me on the head like she used to for making such a scene. But I'm happy it worked out well. So, now we have to find you a guy for prom. Do you have anyone in mind? Shino? Kiba? Or that guy from chemistry who keeps staring at you? Hmm? Who's it gonna be? So many options, Hinata! How are you gonna choose?! I bet you already got asked seven times in the least month." Naruto continued to tease Hinata as she tried to stop him.

"Naruto! Stop! I don't know who I'll go with or even if I'll go at all," Naruto looked at Hinata in disbelief as she said this.

"What are you saying!? How can you not go to prom!?" Naruto's cellphone began ringing at this point. Before he answered it, he looked to Hinata and said, "Sakura's waiting for me in her car. I have to go. But we're not done talking about this. You have to go to prom! It's our last year here! You can even go with a friend! Just don't completely brush it off, okay. We'll talk about this tomorrow. I really have to go." Naruto turned around and started walking towards the exit as he answered his phone, "Hey Sakura! Sorry about that, I'm coming!…...No, I just had to do something important. I'm on my way."

Hinata watched as Naruto walked away, talking to Sakura on his phone. _I don't know if I want to go to prom. I can't even handle seeing them together in school, how will I be able to hold myself if I see them dancing, holding each other close, staring at each other with so much love in their eyes, and…kissing…I don't think I can do that to myself. I'm not that strong…For god's sake! I still dream about him! When will I ever get over him!?_ Hinata grabbed her backpack and closed her locker before she headed out towards home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Senior year had finally ended and now it was time for graduation. The entire senior class stood on their school's football stadium in alphabetical order, waiting for their name to be called out so they could go up to the stage and take their diploma. Hinata stood right behind Sakura while Naruto was all the way in the back. She couldn't help but look at the girl who was everything that Hinata wanted to be. She had heard how great prom was and how beautiful she looked right next to Naruto, who had cleaned up very nicely. Hinata had decided against going to prom since she knew she couldn't handle any more heartbreak. She was worried about convincing Naruto to let the topic drop but it turned out easier than expected. Naruto had forgotten about the whole thing and never brought it up to Hinata again since he was busy shopping for clothes for prom with Sakura. Now that Hinata stood this close to Sakura than she had ever in the past, she began wondering what it was that had attracted Naruto to her. Sure she was smart, but so was Hinata. Sakura was pretty, and even though Hinata didn't think of herself as someone gorgeous, she still thought she was decent enough to get someone's attention. Then what was it that Naruto saw in Sakura that she couldn't? What was it that Sakura had and she didn't?

Hinata was too focused on the girl in front of her that she almost missed her name. When her name was called out she began walking to the stage. There stood Tsunade, their principal, who was handing out diplomas to students and taking picture with them. Hinata walked up to her and shook her hand with Tsunade as she grabbed the diploma with the other hand. They took a photo in the pose and after a few seconds Hinata walked back down the stage and back to her seat. After everything was done, people began gathering on the stadium grounds. Families took pictures with the new graduates, and friends took pictures with each other in their cap and gown.

Hinata took pictures with her father, her little sister, Hanabi, and her cousin, Neji, who came all the way from college just for her graduation. She took pictures with her friends, Shino and Kiba, as well. When she was about to leave Naruto ran up to her asking her to take a picture with him.

"That one turned out really nice! I'll upload these photos on facebook so you can get them from there. Don't be stranger this summer, Hinata! We're off to college after this and I know we wont be able to see each other as often as we used to so let's hang out this summer, okay? I'll text you and we can plan stuff out. I'll see you around!" Naruto waved at Hinata as began walking away, promising to talk to her later. But Hinata knew well that he would be too busy with Sakura to have much time for her this summer.

Summer started like any other summer Hinata had in the past, slow and boring. She would sleep-in the first week of summer vacations but after that she had nothing to do. She thought about getting a job to pass her time but her father wouldn't let her by saying that she had no need to work for money. Her father wouldn't understand when she would tell him that she wanted to work not for the money but to keep her from boredom. She just wanted to do something since she had nothing to do at all.

Naruto had called her after graduation, just like he promised. They decided to meet a week after that to hangout at the summer county fair. They went there for two days and after that she hadn't seen him again. She knew that he was spending most of his time with his girlfriend, and rightfully so since that is what people do when they're together. A guy shouldn't hangout with another girl by herself when he has his girlfriend to do all that stuff with. Hinata decided that it wasn't fair to her, Naruto, or Sakura if he had to divide his time between her and his girlfriend. So, whenever Naruto would ask her to hangout with him, she would come up with a believable excuse because she didn't want to argue with him. She knew that Naruto was giving up on his time with Sakura just to hang out with her, and she knew that Sakura would probably feel hurt if she found her boyfriend spending more time with another girl. So Hinata did the only thing she could think of, she avoided Naruto. It was hard the first few days but it became easy as he started calling her less and less as days went by until he stopped calling at all. She felt bad for not hanging out with him and ignoring him, but she felt that she had to do this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Instead of getting a job, Hinata volunteered at the pet shelter, which was owned by Kiba's parents. She spent most of her summer there, hanging out with Kiba and his sister, and sometimes Shino too.

In the last week of summer, before college started, Hinata began packing her stuff. She was ready to move into her dorm at Suna University. It was a university in the city of Suna, which was a two days drive from Konoha. Hinata had chosen this school for its excellent teaching program, and for its location away from Konoha. She had decided to move away from Konoha early in the school year when she was applying to colleges, and chose this school even before Naruto and Sakura became an official couple. She couldn't stay in a town where she had to face Naruto and be reminded of his rejection. Now that he was with Sakura, she seemed even more relieved with her choice. She had to get far away from Naruto if she was ever going to get over him.

Hinata was walking in the park that she used to play in while growing up. She went up to the swing where she always saw a blonde boy sitting whenever he was upset. She sat down and began swinging while not noticing someone sitting on a far bench behind her. Naruto sat there for a few minutes watching her swing before he got up and approached her with a smile on his face.

"You look like a little girl swinging like that," said Naruto while standing behind Hinata.

She jumped in surprise, nearly falling off before she dragged her feet to stop the swing. She turned the swing around to face Naruto who was now standing in front of her.

"What're you doing here, Naruto?" asked Hinata.

"Oh, I just came here to think and relax. What about you?"

"I was just passing by and decided to come here"

"Hey, if you're not doing anything, do you wanna go and grab some ice-cream?"

Hinata hesitated a little, trying to find an excuse but finally gave up and nodded her head. She got up from the swing and began walking with Naruto to the ice-cream shop.

"So, Hinata, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Nothing much. I volunteered at a pet shelter with Kiba for most of the summer, but I just stopped that last week. What about you?"

"That sounds nice. I mean the part where you hang out with cute animals, not Kiba. That must've been rough being around him for so long. He can be really annoying and rude sometimes. I hope he didn't say something stupid or mean to you. Let me know if he did so I can teach him a lesson about treating you like that." Naruto was rolling up his sleeves as he said this while Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Naruto.

"Naruto, I think you're going overboard. Kiba was very nice to me. I think you forgot that me and Kiba have been friends since we were babies, so he would never do or say anything to hurt me."

"Yeah, that's right. You knew him before you even met me," said Naruto as he scratched the back of his neck and looked towards the ground.

"You didn't tell me what you've been up to recently," said Hinata.

"Me? Well, nothing much for me too, I guess. I hung out with Sakura a lot. We went on dates and I even met her parents but other than that, nothing much. Oh! I started training this month for the tournament next week. I'm so excited about that. I slacked off on my training a little this summer since I wanted to hangout with Sakura but I'm back on track now. Jiraiya has been going really hard on me this time. He says that if I win this one then I'll have enough money to start college. You know how expensive it is to go to college here, even community college. I've been saving up all the money I get from winning these martial arts competitions to go to college. But to be honest I'm afraid that I might not win this one. I heard that a lot more people are gonna compete since the prize is bigger. That means that more people are gonna be in it, people who are bigger, stronger and more skilled than me. People who have coaches and professional trainers while all I have is my godfather who writes pervy books. I'm no match for people like them. And even if I win this one, I'll barely make enough to start college. But what's gonna happen when I run out of that money? How am I gonna get more? Soon I'm gonna have to drop out to find work and then I'll never be able to finish college. I'll be stuck in a small minimum wage job while all my friends are gonna be out making more money and living a good life, and then Sakura will leave me because I wasn't making enough money, and then I'll be living all alone with no friends and no girlfriend and –"

"Naruto!" Hinata yelled. They had stop walking a while ago when Naruto began rambling. She knew that he was nervous. She placed her hands on each side of his face and turned his head so he could look into her eyes. "Hey, look at me. Calm down. Take a deep breath in, hold it, now take it out. Listen, you're overthinking this too much. First of all, you have been competing in these tournaments for so long and you've faced so many people. There were always people who were better than you, but that never stopped you. You still tried and pushed yourself harder. And even when you didn't win, you still didn't let that stop you. You trained more and more until you got to where you wanted to be and even then you didn't stop. You have never let yourself be engulfed by your failures. Instead you always took them as motivation to try even harder. That is what makes you different than all those people who just want to win. They think that they have strength because they're strong, but what you have is the will to never give up and that's what I believe is true strength. So, stop being so worried!

"Secondly, if money is the issue then you know that I will gladly help you with that. I would like nothing more than to help you reach your goal. I know how much you were looking forward to going to college. So, please stop worrying about that, okay." Hinata stared into Naruto's eyes to see if hes was still worried or nervous. When she was convinced that he was okay, she let him go and dropped her hands back to her sides. She stood there looking at Naruto while he tried to calm himself.

"Sometimes I think you think way too highly of me. I'm not really that great of a person, but what you said to me makes me believe that I am. Thank you, Hinata. You always know what to say. I feel much better now. I can't even remember what I got so worked up over, that's how good you are! Haha" Naruto laughed as Hinata started laughing too.

After a few minutes, they started walking towards the ice-cream shop again. Once they got there, they ordered the flavors they wanted and headed out with their ice-cream to eat in the sun. They sat down on a bench by the pond in the park. They ate in silence for a while until Hinata spoke.

"Naruto, I was serious about the money. Don't hesitate to ask if you need it. I want to help you."

"I know you do, and that means a lot. But I know how strict your father is with you and I don't want to give him another thing to hold against you."

"I have my savings too! I can give you money from there. It doesn't have to be from my father."

"No Hinata. That's you're money that you saved for college. It's not right for me to take something away from you just so I can have it. I don't want you to give up your opportunity just so you can help me. Don't worry, though. I'll figure something out." said Naruto as he smiled at Hinata to reassure her.

They stayed like that for minutes, staring into each other's eyes without saying a word. For a brief second, Naruto's eyes shifted towards her lips, and back to her eyes, but Hinata didn't move. They continued to stare at each other until Naruto began leaning in slowly. Instinctively, Hinata did the same until they were mere inches apart. They could feel each other's breath on their face. Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what he was about to do. At the same moment, when Hinata saw that, she back up and turned her face away. She was blushing madly because of embarrassment and what she was about to do. Naruto saw that and began apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry Hinata! I didn't mean to! I wasn't thinking! I'm so so sorry! I would never do anything to hurt you! Please forgive me! I'm so sorry for acting like that!" Naruto got off the bench and began bowing his head towards Hinata as he kept saying sorry.

 _Oh man! I'm such an idiot! What was I thinking!? I can't do that to Hinata! She'll hate me now! Ugh! Why couldn't I just control myself like I always do!? It doesn't matter how cute she looked! I can never do something like that to her! What would Sakura think!? Oh god no! She'll kill me then break up with me! I finally got my chance with her! I can't mess it up!_ Naruto was reprimanding himself mentally as he kept apologizing to Hinata. He was becoming more and more nervous as he kept going.

"Naruto, it's okay. Stop apologizing, please," whispered Hinata so low that Naruto had to strain himself to hear her.

"Hinata, it's not okay. I can't do something like that to you. You're my precious friend. Just a while ago you helped me when I wasn't feeling too well about myself, and now this is how I thank you! You don't deserve that. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm really sorry! Please let me make it up to you!"

 _Does the idea of kissing me repulse him that much? He can't stop apologizing, even after I told him that it was okay,_ thought Hinata. "Please stop. I said it was okay."

"No, it's not! Don't you understand!? I almost kissed you! I have a girlfriend and I would never think of cheating on her, especially with you! Hinata please let me make it up to you. Don't be upset –"

"I said stop it, Naruto! That's enough! I told you that it was okay! I forgive you! You don't have to try to make it up to me. I wont tell Sakura. So there, be happy! You'll still get to be with her!" Hinata had gotten up from the bench and was about to leave when Naruto grabbed her arm.

"Hinata, I wasn't trying to do that to keep you from telling Sakura. I care about you too. I didn't want you to be upset with me. I can never imagine kissing you, especially like this."

"Why! Am I too repulsive to be kissed! Does the thought of kissing me make you sick! What's wrong with me that you can't even think about a kiss with me!?" Hinata yelled as her tears threatened to fall, but she held them back.

"What?...Why are you saying that?"

"You know what, just forget it. Forget this ever happened. We won't ever talk about this. We'll just go on with our life without ever thinking about this because it never happened, okay? It's getting late, I should go." Hinata turned around and ran away without giving Naruto a chance to reply.

 _What just happened?...Did I say something?...Gah! Why do I always seem to mess up!...She said to forget about it. Should I really do that? Just pretend that nothing happened today?...Ugh! I don't know what to think anymore!_ Naruto gave up on any more thoughts and walked back to his apartment.

No one was there when he got back, and he didn't feel like training so he went straight to his bed. He laid there for hours trying to figure out where things had gone wrong and so out of hand. He thought about calling Hinata so he could hear her voice and see if she was still upset. He wanted to ask her what was wrong but decided against calling her at all.

 _God! What did I do!? I can't think of anything! And what was her problem!? One minute she was quiet and the next she started yelling about me not wanting to kiss her! What the hell is she thinking!? Of course I wanted to kiss her! Couldn't she see how close I was to doing that? But thank goodness that I caught myself in time. It would have been such a disaster! I would've lost Hinata and Sakura. Man, I really need stop thinking about Hinata. She's been on my mind since she told me that she liked me. It was such a long time ago but I just couldn't help thinking what it would've been like if she actually did like me as more than a friend. I was imagining how it would be like going on a date with her, being her boyfriend, kissing he –…UGH! I'M DOING IT AGAIN! I thought I decided no more thinking about Hinata! Especially about kissing her! I really should stop because it isn't doing me any good. I know that she would never be with someone like me. And I have Sakura now. I've been chasing her for so long and now I finally have her so I should stop being so pathetic and man up to be the boyfriend that Sakura deserves! Heh, I'll even be a better one than that bastard Sasuke could ever be._ With that last thought Naruto fell asleep feeling better than he did earlier.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Hinata couldn't stop thinking about the almost kiss, the-one-that-was-so-close-to-a-real-one-that-she-oh-so-wanted-but-shouldn't-have-since-he-has-a-girlfriend kiss. She imagined what it would've felt like if she had actually kissed him, but she would stop herself from going any further to say how bad of an idea that would be and how she would've regretted it if they had kissed. Hinata couldn't sleep all night. She was replaying what had happened in her mind over and over again. From the almost kiss to her running off.

 _I shouldn't have gotten mad at him and yelled like that. He was just trying to make me feel better. He thought I was upset with him for trying to kiss me, but I wish he knew the truth about how many times I wanted to kiss him in the past. I'm so stupid! He has a girlfriend, of course he didn't want to kiss me! But why would he say that he could never imagine kissing me? I understand that he has a girlfriend now but in the past he could've thought about it just like I did…But why would he though? It's just like when I confessed. He didn't like me then so why would he ever think about kissing someone like me? Ugh! I thought I decided that I would move on from Naruto, but I'm not making any progress. I'm still so hopelessly and pathetically in love with him. When will I get over this unrequited love? I should really leave for Suna soon because if I stay any longer, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe not seeing him for a couple of years will help me get over him._ The thought of not seeing Naruto for years caused Hinata to feel a sharp pain in her chest. It saddened her to know that she would not be able to see his smiling face, or those bright blue eyes for years. _It's for the best. I can't continue living like when there's no hope._ With that thought Hinata finally fell asleep.

In the morning when she woke up she saw that she had received a new email on her phone.

 _"Dear Suna University Students,_

 _Don't forget that next week is the mandatory freshmen orientation for all students attending Suna University for the first time. You are asked to arrive half an hour before the event starts to sign in and register. Freshmen dorms will begin opening for students to move in today. It is advised you move in to your dorms before your classes begin. This way you will not have to worry about adjusting to your rooms while starting classes. Classes will start two days after the orientation. You will receive your schedule and required textbooks list there._

 _Hope you had a great summer and welcome to Suna University!"_

Hinata read the email and realized that it was almost time for her to move out. She jumped out of her bed and ran to her father's study to let him know that she would have to leave for Suna in three days. She booked her flight and double-checked through all her things that she had packed to see if she forgot something.

The day before her flight, she was sitting in her room writing on her desk when her little sister, Hanabi walked in.

"Hinata, are you all set for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think I got everything that I need. I'll take some of the stuff with me on the plane and dad will ship the rest of it."

"How troublesome," when Hanabi said that, Hinata immediately thought of her classmate Shikamaru who always used to say that. "You should've just gone to Konoha University like everyone else in your class. That way you wouldn't have had to pack all your stuff to move. You would've just stayed here."

Hinata smiled at her sister's way of saying that she would miss her when she is gone. "Hanabi, I'll miss you too but I have to go. They have one of the best teaching programs in the country and the university is among the top ten. Don't worry though, I'll be here during my winter and summer breaks so you'll get to see me. Also, you'll be starting high school this year. You'll be so busy that you won't even notice I'm gone."

Hanabi looked at Hinata with tears filled in her eyes. This was the first time that she had let her sister see her tears. Hinata immediately felt her heart drop at the sight of her baby sister crying. Looking at her like this made Hinata realize that her sister was only a child, and that she may not be as strong as she lets on. Hinata hugged Hanabi while both sisters cried into each other's arms and neither wanting to let go. After crying for five minutes, both of them had calmed down. They let go of each other while laughing at how ridiculous the other looked until Hanabi brought up something that Hinata was trying to forget.

"You're going to miss Naruto's tournament tomorrow. This will be your first time not going to one where he's competing. Is he okay with that?" Hanabi looked at Hinata for an answer but all she could see how she lowered her head. "You didn't tell him, did you?" Hinata only nodded at this, still not lifting her eyes from the ground. "I thought so. He would never let you leave without watching him fight. He probably would've pressured you to change your flight time just so you could make it. Did you at least say goodbye to him?"

"I wanted to two days ago but I couldn't, and then I didn't want to see him, but now I want to at least see him one more time before I leave." Hinata told her sister.

"So what are you waiting for? Your flight is tomorrow, you still have time, and you know where he lives, so I don't know what the issue is. Don't hesitate because you might regret it later." Hinata knew that her sister was right so she decided to take her advice and visit Naruto.

"I'm going to Naruto's to see if he's there. I'll be back by dinner. Bye!" Hinata grabbed her purse and car keys as she ran out her out of her room. She got in her car and drove to Naruto's apartment, praying that he was there and not somewhere else.

As she got in the parking lot, she saw a very familiar car but could not figure out whom it belonged to. She shrugged it off and ran up the stairs to his apartment. As she got closer to his door, she stopped herself from knocking when she heard a loud laugh from inside. She recognized whom the voice belonged to, the same person who owned that car in the parking lot. _Sakura,_ thought Hinata, _what should I do? I want to see him but I shouldn't do this while she's here. It'll be too awkward, and I wanted to spend some time just with Naruto._ Hinata stood at his front door for five minutes contemplating whether she should knock or not. In the end she decided to leave without meeting Naruto.

A few minutes after she left, Naruto opened his front door to inspect something.

"What're you looking at?" asked Sakura from the living room.

"Nothing. I just thought somebody was here but I guess it was no one," Naruto replied as he was about to turn to go inside, but before he could he heard a car engine start. He promptly looked outside to see who it was and discovered that it was Hinata who had just been there a few minutes ago, but now she was driving away.

Hinata couldn't help but let her tears fall as she drove away from Naruto's apartment. She had a feeling that she was not going to get a chance to see him again before she left for her flight tomorrow. She just wanted to see him one more time before she went away to college. She knew that she would get a chance to see him when she would get back for winter break but that was almost six months away. She was not going to see him, or hear his voice for six months. She didn't know if she should be sad about this or happy that it would help her get over him. Her tears told her how she actually felt about this but she tried to reason with herself to see a brighter side.

 _This will help me get over him sooner. Also, I should get used to this because it's going to be like this for the next four years,_ thought Hinata as she drove home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Hinata got all her luggage out of the car with Neji's help. Her flight was in two hours but she insisted on coming earlier so she could get all her bags through checkout in time. She said her good-byes and hugged her friends and family one by one starting with Kiba, Shino, Hanabi, then Neji, and even Hiashi, her father. He was always calm and collected without a hint of emotion on his stern face, but now as Hinata bid her farewell, one could see the pain and sadness that showed on his face, but everyone chose to ignore it in fear of incurring his wrath. He was parting with his firstborn daughter so it was understandable to see him in such a state. He gave her one final lecture about what she should and shouldn't do while she was away. In the end he told her that if she ever needed anything he would always be there.

Hinata couldn't hold back her tears as she said goodbye to everyone. When she was finally finished she headed on to the check-in area. In two hours she was going to be far away from Konoha in a place that she had never been before.

While she waited for her flight, Hinata debated whether she should call Naruto as her one last attempt to say goodbye. This way she could at least hear his voice even if she couldn't see him. She knew that his tournament had already started but she hoped that maybe she would be able to talk to him during one of his breaks between matches. She called his number and waited for someone to answer, but the only thing she got was voicemail. She hung up and decided she would call again in a little while.

On the other side of the city, Naruto was getting ready for his match. He walked up to his opponent all the while searching the crowds for familiar faces. He saw his godfather, Jiraiya, along with some friends and his girlfriend, Sakura, but he couldn't find Hinata. He tried to brush off his disappointment by thinking that she was probably late. He poured all his focus and attention to his opponent and the match. He went on like this halfway through the tournament without looking up at the crowd to avoid feeling any more upset than he already was because he knew that Hinata wasn't there to watch him. She hadn't shown up at all through out any of his matches. It was plausible that she could've been late even though she never was before, but now it had been too long. She had missed half of his matches already and he was becoming more and more frustrated.

 _She tells me that she believes in me, that I'm strong. But now she isn't even here to watch me fight! She's always so happy when I win a match and now she won't even see me win. Where is she? What's so important that she missed something that I had been planning for almost a year!? She promised that she'd be here._ Naruto was so distracted by his thoughts when the match began that he didn't notice his opponent's attack. He recoiled without falling and returned a blow to his opponent. His match went on for a while until his opponent won by taking advantage of his distracted state.

Naruto got off the mat and went to the back where all the participants went when they were eliminated. He saw Jiraiya waiting there for him with an angry expression.

"What the hell happened!? You were doing so well in the beginning but as the tournament went on, you became more and more distracted. What's going on!? You know you just lost a chance to win a thousand dollars! That was supposed to go to your college fund, but now you can't get that money and you won't have enough to start college!" Jiraiya yelled at Naruto as he tried to figure out why his godson had lost so easily. He knew he was capable of a lot more but something was bothering him, which was why he lost focus and lost his match. He just wanted to figure out what was bothering him so much.

"Just leave me alone! I don't want to talk right now! I'll figure something out, okay! I don't wanna deal with you or anyone else right now, so leave me alone!" Naruto replied as he walked away.

Jiraiya let him go, knowing better than to follow him. He knew that when Naruto wanted to talk, he would come to him. But for now he left him alone.

 _What the hell is her problem!? Why couldn't she come today!? She knew how important this competition was for me! She didn't even tell me anything! Is she still upset that I tried to kiss her? She said it was okay then why is she doing this now! Ugh! I need to talk to her. I need to find out what the hell is going on with her,_ Naruto decided as he got his bag from the locker room.

"Naruto, are you okay? I saw what happened. How are you feeling?"

Naruto turned around to see Sakura standing by the door, looking at him with a worried expression.

"I'm fine, just a little sore, but I'll be okay. Thanks for asking. I'm gonna head out. I don't want to stay here for the rest of the tournament." Naruto smiled as he tried to ease some of Sakura's worry.

"I'll come with you then. When we get back to your apartment, I'll take a look at your wounds. I have my first aid kit with me so don't try to argue about this because I'm serious. I just want to make sure you're all right. I know you're strong but it's always best to be safe," said Sakura as she went up to Naruto and held his hand. He could see that Sakura wasn't going to leave his side until she was sure the he was completely fine. He smiled at this and let her lead him out of the building.

 _I guess I'll just go see Hinata tomorrow. It's probably for the best since I'm so angry with her right now that I might say something that I don't mean. I'll relax and think about this before I see her,_ thought Naruto as he walked to his apartment with Sakura by his side.

The day after the tournament had ended, Naruto woke up to a loud banging on his apartment door. He looked at his clock and saw that it was 9 am. _Man, I wanted to sleep in today, but this stupid person had to bang on my door. Why can't they just leave! If they keep banging like that, they'll break my door!_

"Hey! Alright! I'm coming! Calm down! What is it?" Naruto yanked his front door open to see Hanabi standing there. "What're you doing here? And where's Hinata? Tell her that if she wants to apologize she has to do it to my face."

"Naruto, she can't do that," said Hanabi.

"And why is that?"

"She's not here with us anymore." Hanabi looked down at the letter in her hand as she said this.

"What?...She's…She's dead!? Oh my god! How did this –"

"No, she's not dead, you idiot! She isn't in Konoha anymore!"

"Then why'd you say it like that!? You should've just said this from the beginning! I was so worried that I almost had a heart attack. Where is she gone?"

"She went to Suna yesterday," said Hanabi as she went back to staring at the letter in her hand.

"She never told me that she was leaving. So, when is she coming back?" asked Naruto.

"Not for a while. Here, she wrote this for you. She couldn't see you before she left so she wrote you a letter. She was really upset that she couldn't come to your tournament but she had to go. Why don't you read the letter. It explains everything." Hanabi handed the letter in her hand to Naruto and left.

After Hanabi left, Naruto took the letter and sat on his dining table. He opened the envelope to see a letter in Hinata's handwriting.

 _"Dear Naruto,_

 _I'm sorry that I couldn't do this in person. I really wanted to see you before I left but I was too afraid of how you might react. I'm writing this to let you know that I'm leaving Konoha. I know that I told you I was going to go to Konoha University after high school like all of our friends, but in the end I decided that it was best for me if I went to university in Suna. They have a really good program in what I want to study and the school is really great. I really wish that I could stay but I think this is for the best._

 _I will really miss you…_

 _I know that I won't be able to see you at your tournament but know that I will always believe in you and in my heart I will cheer for you. So do you best!_

 _Although I have complete trust and belief in your abilities, I still would like to help you with the money that you saved for college. I know that you said you didn't want my father's help, so this is the money from my account. I didn't take out too much so don't worry. I just want to help you achieve your goals. I remember the first time you said you wanted to be a cop. It was in kindergarten. I would like nothing more than to see you happy, doing what you love the most. And seeing you like that inspires me to follow my dreams too. You have always helped me believe in myself so now I want to return the favor._

 _Please take care of yourself Naruto, and I wish you the best in everything._

 _With love,_

 _Hinata."_

 _Love, Hinata…_ Naruto looked inside the envelope again and pulled out a check addressed to him. It was written for two thousand dollars. _Hinata…You didn't have to…I'd rather have you here with me. I'm sorry…Please, don't leave me._ Naruto didn't know what else to think while he stared at the check and Hinata's letter in his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Hello everyone! Thank you to all who reviewed, favorited and followed my story! It means so much to know that you guys are taking time out to read this, so thank you! Also, I wanted to say that the reason why I post multiple chapters at once is that when I write I usually write a lot so in the end I break them into chapters that would make the story flow better._**

 ** _Onto the story now._**

 **Chapter 7**

"Hinata, you've been a valuable addition to our school's staff. In just a year we've already seen a significant increase in the number of students enrolled in our program, and it also helps that the students and their parents really like you. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for us if I may add, a lot of other school districts have noticed your success as well. I called you in here to let you know about an offer made to you from another school. They're having trouble with their students. The staff there thinks that maybe you can help them enforce a new curriculum that will help the students there. So what do you think? Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. The school that offered you a position is in Konoha." Hinata sat in front of Tanaka, the head of the Suna school district, listening to the offer he spoke about.

"Konoha?...I haven't been there in almost five years," said Hinata.

"Yeah, I know you're from Konoha but you came here for college. That's why I thought this offer might appeal to you. You should really think about it first. You have till the end of the week."

"Thank you, Mr. Tanaka. I will let you know what I decide." Hinata got up from her chair and left the office. Since school was already over, she headed back to her apartment.

 _It's been so long since I've been to Konoha… Is this the right time to go back?_

After Hinata had started her classes at Suna University, she was swept with schoolwork. Soon she found herself a job as an intern at the city's school district. Because of this she rarely had a chance to go back to Konoha since she was working most of the time. Instead Hanabi and Neji would often visit her in Suna during her breaks, and sometimes her father would make an appearance too. Even though she was not doing what her father had wanted her to do, which was to run his company, she could see that he was starting to acknowledge her ambitions and was proud of her determination to reach them. Throughout all this time, she was hoping to hear from a certain blonde. The first few days in Suna were spent in anticipation for Hinata. She would glance at her phone every now and then to see if she had gotten a call or even a text from Naruto. Hanabi had told her that she had dropped off her letter to him, and knowing that he had read it, Hinata waited for him to say something. But she got no word from him. After the first two weeks when she finally realized that he wasn't going to call her, she decided to call him. On that day she had picked up her phone and dialed Naruto's number but it wasn't Naruto who had answered.

"Hello," answered Sakura on Naruto's phone.

"Umm, Sakura?..."

"Yeah this is she,"

"Oh, it's Hinata. I just called to talk to Naruto. Is he there?" asked Hinata. She could hear someone mumbling in the background as she spoke to Sakura.

"Hey Hinata. Naruto isn't here right now. He forgot his phone. Sorry."

"Oh,…well, can you let him know that I called. I'll try again at another time then. Thank you."

"No problem, bye." Hinata hung up as soon as Sakura said that. She knew that the voice she heard in the background was Naruto and that he did not want to talk to her.

Hinata tried again a few more times after that but got the same answer from Sakura. She knew then that she could only talk to him if and when he decided to talk to her. So, she stopped trying to contact him.

Things continued like this and soon, days turned to weeks, which turned to months, which turned to years, until it had been 5 years since she had seen or hear from Naruto.

Now, after hearing about the offer Hinata was faced with a dilemma. After graduating Suna University she had accepted a job offer in the city and used that as an excuse to not go back to Konoha. And now she was offered a great opportunity that could definitely help her career, but was she ready to go back. She debated this in her mind until she came up with a decision.

 _I can't keep running away like this. This is a great opportunity for me and I shouldn't let this slip by me just because I'm too afraid to face my problems. Also, I've moved on so it shouldn't be a problem in the first place._ Hinata finally made up her mind and told her boss about her decision to take the offer. In a month she was going to move back to Konoha.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Boarding flight 379 for Konoha. Passengers, please arrive at gate 12 with your tickets." Hinata grabbed her luggage as soon as she heard the announcement on the speakers, and headed towards gate 12 to board her plane.

"Ticket please. Thank you. Have a nice flight!" said the lady at the counter who stamped Hinata's ticket.

Hinata walked into the plane and began looking for her seat. She found her seat in the back right next to the window, just like how she had wanted. She placed her carry-on in the storage above the seat but kept her purse with her as she sat down. While she waited for everyone to board the flight, Hinata closed her eyes to relax. She had only had one seat beside her, which was empty, and she hoped that it stayed like that for the rest of the flight since the space was really cramped between the seats. Alas, her prayer was not heard because someone began placing their luggage in the storage above and took the seat right next to her. She could hear all of this but decided not to open her eyes to see who it was. She had the rest of the flight to see who it was, so for now she kept her eyes closed and enjoyed this feeling of privacy.

The flight attendants began announcing the instructions to carry out in case of emergencies. Hinata didn't bother opening her eyes until the person right next to her told her to put her seatbelt on.

"The flight is about to start. They won't take off unless everyone has their seatbelts on so I suggest you put yours on." The stranger beside her had a deep and mellow voice that could only suggest that it was a man. Hinata opened her eyes to buckle her seatbelt only to realize that the stranger right next to her, who was now staring at her, was not a stranger at all.

Black eyes bore into the depth of her pale ones, as if trying to unearth some secret behind it.

"Put on your seatbelt," he commanded.

Hinata fumbled with her belt as she tried to buckle the latch on the other side. She blinked several times trying to avoid looking at the person next to her in hopes that she was hallucinating.

 _It can't be…_ Hinata slightly turned her head and watched from the corner of her eyes to see if she knew who it was sitting beside her.

"Is there something you want to say?"

"W-What?" squeaked Hinata.

"You're not really subtle. I can feel you staring at me," he said, as he turned his head towards her and looked into her eyes.

Hinata turned her head to look at him. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"How should I know," he said.

"Do you remember me?"

"Why would you ask that if you don't even know me?" he asked.

"I might not remember you but you might remember me, right?"

He frowned before he turned his head straight to stare at the back of the seat in front of him. Hinata started to doubt that this man was whom she thought it was.

"Sasuke Uchiha. Try not to forget it next time," said Sasuke in a condescending tone. Hinata turned to look at the man again. She heard what he said but could not believe it.

 _Is this really Sasuke? He left so abruptly without telling anyone. And no one had heard from him, or even seen him for so long that people thought he died. But now he's here!_ Hinata could see the resemblance with the boy she knew from school. She had never really spoken to him before so this was the most he had ever said to her.

"I remember you from school. It was almost six years ago when you left. Do you even know who I am? We never really talked." Hinata tried to see if Sasuke knew who she was since they never interacted at school.

"We might have never spoken at school, but I know who you are. I can tell by your eyes. You're Neji's cousin. Himata Hyuga," said Sasuke with a smug smirk on his face.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at his expression. _Well he's still arrogant as ever._

"It's Hinata, actually. Try not to forget it next time," said Hinata, as she was the one with a smirk on her face now.

"Himata, Hinata, close enough. It's been six years so you should be thankful that I even remembered that much." Sasuke waved this of as he tried to hide the embarrassment from his face.

"Well, I'm actually surprised you remembered me at all. I was always quiet and really shy in school so people usually just ignored me."

"People are stupid to ignore their surroundings. You should always be aware of what is around you. It can mean the difference between life and death. I'm always observing the people around me and you just happened to be one of them."

"Sooo…what you're trying to say is that if you hadn't noticed me in school you could've been dead by now." Hinata mentally laughed at Sasuke's reasoning for remembering her. She knew he didn't want her to start having some crazy fangirl fantasies about him just because he noticed her at school, but she couldn't help teasing him. She knew how crazy his fangirls had been in school, they even tried stealing his uniform when he was in gym one time. "Have you been thinking about me? Do you like me? Oh my god, Sasuke why didn't you ever say something! Of course I'll go out with you! All you had to do was ask, silly. I can't wait till our third date because then we can get married! Aww, we'll have the cutest babies! How do three kids sound? Maybe 4? Do you wanna go up to 5!?" Hinata couldn't hold her laugh in as she saw how Sasuke's expression changed from confusion to shock to scared.

"Hell no! Stay away from me! You're just like all of them! Flight attendant! I'd like to move my seat!" Sasuke yelled at the attendant walking in the aisle while Hinata was bursting with laughter.

"I was kidding Sasuke! I don't like you like that! But you should've seen your face when I said marriage! Oh, and at the part about the cute babies your face went so pale! Haha! I can't breathe! Oh my god!" Hinata was tearing up now as Sasuke was glaring daggers with his eyes at her. She could've sworn they turned red for a second.

"Tch, you're so annoying. I thought you said you were quiet and shy."

"I was. I said that I _was,_ " Hinata was beginning to calm down from her laughter fit.

"Yeah, I can clearly see that now," said Sasuke as he went back to staring at the seat in front of him with a stoic face.

Hinata did the same and for the rest of the five-hour flight neither spoke to the other, but she didn't mind that at all. She was comfortable in the silence. He didn't ask her about anything, for which she was grateful, and in return she didn't ask him about his disappearance. At the end of the flight they both went their separate ways.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

When Hinata arrived in Konoha she could see that for the most part the city looked the same, but there were some new additions that could not be missed. For one, there were a lot more high-rise buildings in downtown. She could see these new buildings even from far away. For the first week after she got back to Konoha, Hinata moved her stuff to her new apartment with the help of Neji and Hanabi. She had gotten herself an apartment that was walking distance to her work and many of the other amenities she needed. The next week, she explored her neighborhood. She met with Tenten, who was now Neji's girlfriend, and found out that Shikamaru had married someone named Temari, that Ino had finally found herself the perfect boyfriend, and that Sakura had finally become a doctor at Konoha General Hospital.

 _Sakura…I wonder how her and Naruto are doing. I was too afraid to ask Tenten about Naruto._ When her work started, Hinata had made herself so busy that she did not have time to dwell on other things. For the first month she was too busy with work and adjusting to the new school. It wasn't until after the first month that she became more comfortable with her new situation.

Hinata went on with her work but would often think about Naruto. She hadn't seen him since her return five months ago. In fact she hadn't met with any of her other friends except for Tenten. She was too afraid to face them, especially Naruto. She had tried looking for him by going to his old apartment or his usual hangout spots, but she couldn't find him. She was slightly relieved every time she wouldn't be able to find him because she knew she wasn't ready to see him just yet.

It was just a regular day at school except that the kindergarten class was having people with different professions come in to talk about their careers to the students. Hinata had been in Konoha for six months now, and she had decided a while ago that she would let her life run its course. It just so happened that her life had decided that it was time she met a certain blonde.

"Okay class, we're going to have some guests come in and tell you about the kinds of things they do for a living. You'll have to listen to what they say first and when they are finished, you can ask your question. Alright?" Hinata looked at her class to see if they understood her directions.

"Yes, Ms. Hinata!" replied the students together.

"Good! We'll bring them in now." Hinata went to the back of the room as the other teachers brought in the people to talk to the kindergartners. There was a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a firefighter, and a police officer. Hinata watched as each of them entered the room. Her eyes grew twice their size when she saw the man in the police uniform. She couldn't believe the man that she was looking at right now was the same as the one she knew as Naruto. She stood frozen in her spot as all the guests went up to the class and spoke about their professions. The last one to go up was the police officer. He spoke about his daily routine and what his duties were. The boys in the class asked about car chases and how he would catch the bad guy. The entire time he was up there, Hinata felt invisible because not once did Naruto look towards her. _He probably doesn't recognize me..._ thought Hinata.

After that was finished and all the guests had left, the kindergarten class went out for recess. Hinata was alone in the room when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up from her desk to see a blonde head poking into the room while smiling at her. Hinata couldn't think anymore, and all she could hear was the rapid beats of her heart. She knew she was blushing for the first time in a long time. She kept staring at Naruto as he stared back at her until he cleared his throat.

"Is this a good time or should I come later?" asked Naruto. His voice sounded as deep as it always did but he looked different. His long blonde hair was trimmed short and he had grown taller than he used to be five and a half years ago.

Hinata shot up from her seat as she quickly answered, "No, this is a great time!" She tried to calm herself before she spoke again. "Come in. The kids don't come back for another 15 minutes." Hinata couldn't help but look at Naruto from head to toe as he walked into the classroom. She thought he looked really hot in his uniform, and the kind of things she was imagining was making her blush even more.

"I just wanted to come and say hi. I didn't know you were back in Konoha."

"I just moved back when I was offered this job."

"I'm glad that you're back."

"Me too." They stared at each other for a little while until Naruto spoke.

"Do you want to grab dinner with me some time so we can catch up?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, that would be nice," Hinata smiled.

"How about this Saturday at 7pm?"

"That's perfect."

"Good. Do you still live at your family's estate?"

"No, I live in the apartment complex on 22nd street, just a few blocks away from here."

"I'll pick you up then. Bye Hinata."

"Goodbye Naruto." Hinata couldn't help but smile to herself. She was looking forward to Saturday.


	10. Chapter 10

_**I just updated this chapter again because for some reason it wasn't showing up for some time.**_

 **Chapter 10**

It was 6:59pm on Saturday when Naruto picked up Hinata. He was dressed casual in blue jeans and grey shirt with a black bomber jacket on top. On the other hand, it had taken Hinata two hours to decide what to wear. She did not know where they were going so she couldn't decide between casual or fancy. In the end, she went with casual by wearing white pants and a light blue sweater. They headed out and Naruto drove them to their destination. They did some small talk during the drive until Naruto brought them to Ichiraku's.

"It looks bigger than it did before," said Hinata as she looked at the ramen place from outside.

"Yeah, it was starting to get really popular so they decided to add more space for more tables," answered Naruto as they walked into Ichiraku's.

They ordered their food and sat down on a table in a secluded area so they could talk in privacy.

"When did you decide to come back?" asked Naruto.

"I was given the offer about seven months ago, and a month after that I moved here."

"So you've been in Konoha for six months now."

"Yes," answered Hinata. She felt embarrassed to know that she was too afraid to face any of her friends and was hiding even when she came back.

"How was college in Suna? And did you make any friends there? I bet you met some really cool people there," said Naruto. Hinata smiled knowing how easy it was to talk to Naruto, as if they had never been apart.

They talked about their time in college, their classes and what they have been up to since graduating. Naruto went to the Konoha Police Academy after graduating and has been a cop for 2 years now. Hinata admired the way Naruto spoke about his training in the academy. His enthusiasm for the things he loved always inspired her. They kept talking even when they ate their meals. When they were done, they walked to the park where they had last seen each other more than 5 years ago.

"Come and sit here, Hinata. I'll give you a push." Hinata sat on a swing while Naruto pulled on to the ropes and let go. The swing began swaying back and forth while Naruto kept pushing Hinata to go higher but not too high. They laughed while they did that for ten minutes trying to see how high Hinata could go until she stopped her swing as Naruto stood in front of her with a serious expression.

"Why did you leave, Hinata?" Naruto finally asked the question that had been burning in his mind. He knew that he was the reason but a part of him hoped otherwise. He hated to think that he had pushed Hinata so far away like this.

"Naruto, I already told you in the letter. They had one of the best teaching programs in –"

"Don't lie to me. I know that's not the real reason," said Naruto as he cut her off.

Hinata was shocked that Naruto saw through her excuse. She was hoping that he would believe her lie and leave her alone so she could move on. Now, she couldn't think of anything else to say, and she certainly did not want to tell him the real reason why she left.

"It was because of me, wasn't it?" said Naruto after Hinata didn't say anything for a while. He watched her carefully to judge her reaction and see if what he said was the truth or not. As he said that, Hinata had averted her eyes to the ground, and Naruto knew what he said was the truth. He began walking away as Hinata got up and followed him.

"Naruto, wait! Let me explain!"

"Explain what, Hinata!? That you wanted to get away me from so bad that you went three thousand miles away! For five years! And If I hadn't talked to you at your school that day, you would still be avoiding me!" Naruto was fuming with rage at Hinata. He didn't want to hurt her but he couldn't stop himself from feeling so angry with her. _Why did she have to go so far? And for so long! Did she want to get away from me that much that she couldn't even stay in the same city!? She had to go across the freaking continent just to stay away from me!?_

Hinata didn't know what to say. She couldn't even look Naruto in the eyes. She stood there in front of him with her head hanging with shame and embarrassment. Naruto tried to take deep breaths to keep him calm. He didn't want to yell at her anymore even if he was sill angry.

"I was so angry with you when you left. I cursed you and hated you. Every time I thought about you I would get so angry that sometimes I saw nothing but red. I even went off on Sakura one time just because she answered your phone call."

Hinata felt really guilty for making Naruto go through all this. She didn't know how much this had affected him. She shifted her head a little just to see him, but the amount of hurt that showed on his face caused her to bring her head back down. She couldn't take the pain on his face that she had caused.

"Then, after a while I started to calm down and really think about your decision. At first I was just mad that you had left me. Abandoned me… But then I tried to figure out why you left. I thought that maybe if I could fix whatever it was that made you leave then you might come back. So I thought about it day and night until the only reason I could come up with was me… I didn't want to believe it. I thought that you cared about me just as much as I did for you. But then you stopped calling me. I wanted to talk to you, to tell you to come back, but when you stopped only after trying a few times, I thought that you were done with me. Maybe you didn't think I was worth the trouble. You gave up on me so easily that I had to think about how far I should go. So in the end I did what you wanted. You wanted me out of your life, so I helped. I stopped thinking about you, I stopped trying to reach you. Today was just supposed to be my last goodbye to you since I never had a chance to properly see you off before you left. After today you won't ever have to worry about me being in your life."

Hinata wanted to tell him that he was wrong. But she couldn't do that because what he said was true. He was the reason why she left. She wanted to get away from him. She pushed him out of her life. She went as far as Suna just so she wouldn't have to see Naruto. She didn't realize how she had hurt him. She was being selfish and didn't think about how Naruto would feel if she left for so long without telling him beforehand. She felt so low at that moment. All she could do was cry. She looked up at Naruto to see that he had tears in his eyes too but he would not let them fall. His brows were furrowed and his expression was hard, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring at a spot above her head. Even when he spoke to her he did not look at her as if to show that he was done with her.

"I'll drop you off at your apartment." Naruto went back to his car as Hinata followed him. Through out the entire ride back to her apartment Hinata's tears kept falling but she didn't dare to make a sound. She had her head turned away from Naruto and stared out the window at the cars passing by.

When he got to her apartment, he parked his car and unlocked the doors. After Hinata got out of the car and closed the door, he drove off without even waiting for her to go inside.

Hinata walked up the stairs and in to her apartment. She went straight to bed without even changing her clothes. _He's going to be out of my life..._ _This is what I have been doing all along so why does it hurt even more now?_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hello everyone, and thank you for the comments, favorites and follows! I just wanted to reply to something from the comments. First of all, I am sorry that it seems that way but I'm not trying to bash Hinata and since this is mainly centered around her I wanted to show more character development for her. Also, Naruto's reaction in the previous chapter did make him seem selfish but the reason was that he still doesn't fully know the reason why she left. And I would think that he would be really upset since to him it just seems one way but in reality it is something else. With that said, this isn't the end of that issue, and hopefully you all will enjoy the chapters I have written so far.  
Thank you for reading!**_

 **Chapter 11**

"Naruto we need to talk." Sasuke stood in front of Naruto outside his apartment door when he said this.

Naruto was shocked to say the least, but after a few minutes of staring he came to his senses and punched Sasuke in the face. Sasuke recoiled from the hit but stood back up and rubbed his now sore jaw.

"Are you done?" asked Sasuke.

"Hn," replied Naruto as his hands fisted at his sides and his breathing became erratic, but he tried to calm himself down. He grabbed the door and was about to slam it in Sasuke's face before he stopped it with his foot.

"You need to listen," said Sasuke.

"As if I care," Naruto tried closing his door again but Sasuke didn't let him.

"I know you're mad at me but don't try to push me away without hearing me out, or else you might regret it later. I'll be by the lake where we used to hangout after school. Be there in two hours." Sasuke let go of the door and walked away.

Naruto was fuming at this point. _Yesterday it was Hinata, and now him! And what does he know saying that I'll regret it! He doesn't know anything! Why should I care!_

For the next hour Naruto paced his room thinking about Sasuke. He didn't want to give him the satisfaction that he listened to him but he was right that he might regret it later. He had gotten angry at Hinata when he found out about why she left and had pushed her away to keep himself from hurting but he wasn't feeling any better about it. Finally he decided to meet Sasuke at the place he mentioned.

Naruto arrived at the lake and found Sasuke sitting at the wharf while staring at the sky. He looked like his old self and Naruto couldn't believe it had been four years since he last saw him.

"I knew you'd come," said Sasuke without turning to look at Naruto standing behind him.

"Hmm, I couldn't let you have the last word," said Naruto as he walked up to Sasuke and sat down right beside him. They stared at the blue lake in front of them in silence until Sasuke spoke.

"Congratulations, on finally becoming a cop like you always wanted."

"We were supposed to do this together, though," said Naruto still staring ahead. His expression had turned into one of deep thought before he asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Sasuke sighed and stood up as Naruto did the same. They both walked aimlessly as Sasuke spoke.

"I wanted to talk about the time I left," said Sasuke.

Naruto looked at him before saying, "What about it?"

Sasuke took a deep breath in before saying, "When I left, I wanted to leave behind my old life where I thought I had nothing. My parents were dead and brother was missing."

"Yeah, I knew that, Sasuke."

"You did but that still didn't stop you from looking for me. You sent Jiraiya after me so many times, and after you graduated you kept looking for me... You kept trying even when I pushed you farther and farther away until you finally made me promise that I would come back home eventually."

"Yeah and look how long it took you. Almost four years."

"I only said that to get you off my back but I decided that I should come back since I knew you'd still be waiting for me." Sasuke smirked at Naruto who was about to say his own come back but chose otherwise.

"So, you're finally back for good?" Naruto asked as he smiled.

"Yeah"

"Good." They kept walking for a while until Sasuke spoke again.

"You never gave up on me."

"Nope," said Naruto.

"Then why are you giving up on her so easily?"

Naruto stopped and looked at Sasuke. He knew what he was talking about but he didn't know how he knew.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"I saw you practically yelling at her in the park yesterday." Naruto winced at the memory Sasuke brought up.

"It's different with her," said Naruto.

"Why? Because you love her."

Naruto didn't respond, instead he turned his face away from Sasuke.

"You love her, that's why it hurt you the most when she left," said Sasuke.

"Yeah, it almost killed me when I figured out that I was the reason why she left. You left because you thought you didn't have anyone here but she knew she had me and she still left to get away from me. She'd been back for six months, that's when I started to realize I was the real reason why she left. If I hadn't known that then I would never have figured it out."

"So are you just going to give up on her like that. Don't you love her?"

"I do! But what can I do when she doesn't want me?"

"How long have you known her, Naruto? Do you really think that she wanted you out of her life like that? She's been supporting you from the beginning, even when you went to college. Remember the check she wrote that you told me about? How can you think that she is capable of doing something like that when she's done so much for you."

"I…I don't know," said Naruto as he shifted his gaze to the ground.

"You're still such an idiot," scoffed Sasuke. "It's getting late so I'm going to head back home. But before that…uhm…could you give me Sakura's contact. I, uh…wanted to see how she's doing," Sasuke said as he looked away from Naruto, pretending to look at something in the trees.

Naruto smiled at how flustered Sasuke looked and gave him her number. After that they both said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Naruto walked for another hour thinking about what Sasuke had said to him. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to talk to Hinata but he was too afraid that she would leave him again, which was why he had said all those hurtful things to her. He wanted to push her away first before she had a chance to do so, but now he wanted nothing more than to talk to her. He felt bad for acting that way and saying all those things to her. _I don't know what to do now… I should probably apologize._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 _Hinata…_ It was a week from today that Naruto had confronted Hinata about why she left. He had been thinking about it all this time. _I hate that I got so mad at her like that. She looked so miserable that I couldn't even look at her towards the end. She was the one person I wanted to have by my side till the end because…I love her… But when she left so suddenly without so much so as a proper goodbye, I just didn't know what to think other then what I had done wrong? It was like Sasuke all over again. Why did she want me out of her life? What did I do that she had to move so far away from me?_ Just as Naruto was thinking in his bedroom someone was standing outside his door waiting to knock.

 _I have to explain it to him. I don't care what he says. I have to do this._ Hinata had been thinking about what Naruto had said the entire week. Her father had always said that she was a pushover when it came to dealing with conflicts. She felt too guilty at the moment about the pain she caused Naruto that she forgot why she left for Suna in the first. He had the right to be upset with her for leaving like that, but he was also being unfair by not trying to understand why she left. He just assumed that she didn't want anything to do with him and wanted him out of her life completely, which was why she needed to explain. It was unfair of him to blame her without knowing the full circumstances, and so she was going to tell him exactly why she left.

After deciding to talk to Naruto she had gotten his address from Tenten, and now she stood in front of his door. She was nervous and her hands were sweaty, but she pushed aside any self-doubt and anxiety, because she had made a decision and she was not about to back out now. _Huh… Déjà vu,_ thought Hinata as the memory of her confession came to mind. She knocked on his door and then hoped that he would open it. After a while when he didn't open the door, she banged on it louder because she was going to do this one way or another.

"I know you're in there, Naruto! Stop acting like a child and open the door!" yelled Hinata as she kept banging until she heard the lock turn.

"Are you crazy! You're gonna disturb the neighbors!" exclaimed Naruto as he opened the door and glared at Hinata.

"I don't care! You are going to listen to me right now!" said Hinata as she pushed Naruto aside and made her way in to his apartment. She was relieved that there was no one else at his place.

"Hey you can't just barge in here like that! Get out!"

"Make me." Hinata sat down on the sofa in his living room showing that she had no intentions of leaving.

"Hinata, you…" Naruto shook his head and said, "Why are you here? I thought we decided that we weren't going to be in each other's lives anymore."

"No, you decided that! I was feeling so guilty when you said all those things that I let you go on and on like that without even standing up for myself. So now I'm here to explain, and I'm not going to leave unless you hear me out."

"Hinata, there's nothing you need to explain. I already know –"

"No, you don't! If you did then you wouldn't have thought that I wanted you out of my life, that you don't mean anything to me! You were so hurt over the fact that I left to get away from you that you didn't even realize _why_ I wanted to get away!" Hinata stared at Naruto waiting for him to protest. When he didn't say anything, she stood up and continued talking. "I was happy for you Naruto, you have to know that, but I couldn't stop my heart from hurting every time I saw you, knowing that you didn't feel the same way about me. Every day that I would see you I would fall for you even more, but it was hopeless. I wanted you to be happy with Sakura and I wanted myself to move on. I wanted to move on from you but seeing you wasn't helping so I moved. I was going to come back but I was just too afraid that I might still feel the same way if I met you again. That's why I left, Naruto. It's unfair of you to say that I didn't care about you, that I didn't try. Did you try to understand how much you were hurting me? Did you try to understand why I was pushing myself away from you? You didn't! Can you blame me for trying to move on?"

"Hinata…but I don't understand…why you would try to move on from me?"

"Because I love you, you idiot! I've loved you for so long! And it was hurting me to love you so much when I couldn't be with you. You were happy with someone else, and I just wanted the same thing!" Hinata was panting now as Naruto stood there speechless but after a while he spoke.

"Whenever you would call I wanted to talk to you so badly but I couldn't control myself from breaking down just by hearing you voice. After you stopped calling I went to Suna to see you, to say sorry and to ask you to come back…But when I went there, I saw how happy and calm you looked, so I understood that maybe this was what was best for you. I told myself that all the time but I couldn't believe it. If I had talked to you I would have begged you to come back. I didn't want you to leave Suna because of me so I kept my distance. When I found out that you had been back in Konoha for months, I started wondering why you hadn't come to see me. I couldn't help but think that you wanted to stay away from me. I started thinking if there was any other reason why you left and that's when I figured out that you had left because of me. I didn't believe it and that's why I asked you that day to see if you would say otherwise…but you didn't, and I got so mad at you that I went off like that. I said all that because I wanted to leave you before you had a chance to leave me again… And hearing you now makes me feel like a complete jackass for just assuming things… I'm so sorry Hinata, I didn't know." Naruto felt bad as he spoke. He couldn't believe what Hinata had been going through and he felt so remorseful and pathetic for causing her so much pain.

They stood in front of each other for a few minutes in silence, until Naruto took a step forward.

"Did you mean that? What you said earlier," asked Naruto.

Hinata knew what he was talking about and nodded her head.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" asked Naruto.

"I did," answered Hinata.

Naruto furrowed his brows as he thought back to the time in high school when Hinata had told him that she liked him. "I didn't know you meant it like that," said Naruto.

"Would it have made a difference if you did?" asked Hinata.

Naruto got closer to Hinata to the point that their chests almost touched and leaned his head closer to hers. He looked straight in her eyes as he answered, "Yes, it would have."

Hinata began laughing at this as Naruto stared at her in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Do you remember when you almost kissed me at the park the last time we met there?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said as he tried to hide his embarrassment. _Oh man, why is she bringing that up right now?_

"Well, I just remembered how you couldn't stop apologizing then," Hinata said as she kept laughing.

"Yeah, I remember. Why are you bring that up right now?"

"Because I wonder what you would say now."

"What do you me–" Before Naruto could finish his question, Hinata had grabbed his face in her hands and crashed her lips onto his. He was shocked but only for a second before he placed his hands on her back and responded to the kiss. After a few seconds, Hinata pulled away.

"So can you still not imagine kissing me?"

"You don't know how many times I have imagined kissing you," answered Naruto as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Hinata opened her eyes as the sun flickered through the curtains. She looked up to see that she had fallen asleep on Naruto's chest on the sofa. After their kiss, they had stayed up late reminiscing through old memories. They had a few more make out sessions before they fell asleep. Hinata blushed at the thought of the first kiss from last night. _I can't believe I just kissed him like that. I didn't even care about what he would say. I just did it._ Hinata looked up again at Naruto's sleeping face and stared for a few minutes until he woke up.

"You look cute when you're asleep," said Hinata as Naruto rubbed his eyes.

"Only when I'm asleep?" said Naruto with a teasing smile on his face.

"Just take the compliment. Don't go fishing for more," laughed Hinata

"Well I say that you look cute when you sleep, when you're awake, when you're talking, when you laugh and when you smile. Even when you cry you look cute to me," said Naruto as he kissed her face in between the sentence while Hinata giggled.

"I really am sorry Hinata. Not just for last Saturday, but for everything. I was such an idiot to not know what you were going through back in high school. I should've tried harder. Even when you went away, instead of being afraid I should have tried harder to reach you. And all the things I said to you last week, I shouldn't have because I was too stubborn to understand what you were going through. I'm sorry Hinata, for everything."

Hinata smiled at Naruto as he looked at her for reprimanding him for his actions in the past. She brought her hand up to the side of his face and leaned in to kiss him.

"Apology accepted. I should also apologize for leaving so suddenly like that without seeing you. I should've told you about my decision earlier instead of letting you think that I was running away to get you out of my life forever."

Naruto pecked her lips before he said, "You don't need to apologize Hinata. I understand. And it wasn't your fault. I just couldn't see through it back then. If I had I would've known how much you were hurting. I was a bad friend wasn't I?"

"No Naruto, you weren't. I think we should stop dwelling in the past from now on."

"Agreed," said Naruto as he kissed her again before his stomach growled, and when it did his face turned red before he looked away.

"I think you're hungry," said Hinata as she giggled.

"Really? What gave it away," he said as he looked at her sheepishly.

"I'll make breakfast!" Hinata ran to the kitchen as Naruto followed.

"I'll help," he said.

After they made breakfast they sat on the counter and ate together while talking about their work. They kept talking for hours until someone knocked on the door. It was a Sunday so Naruto was confused about who it could be since he never had visitors on this day.

He opened his door to find Tenten standing there as she tried to catch her breath.

"Naruto! Have you seen Hinata? She isn't at her place and Neji can't seem to reach her on the phone. I know she wanted to see you so I thought she might've been here. Is she here?" asked Tenten with a look of panic in her eyes.

"Yeah, she's here. Come in," said Naruto as he gestured Tenten to come inside.

Tenten stepped inside and looked for Hinata until she saw her in the kitchen. She ran up to her and grasped her hands.

"Hinata, you have to come with me! It's your father. He's in the hospital."

As soon as Hinata heard that her heart dropped. Her and Naruto left the apartment the next moment and drove in Tenten's car to the hospital. When they got there, Tenten took them to the emergency room where her father was. Outside his room stood Neji and Hanabi. They both looked sad and devastated. Hanabi's eyes were red with tears while Neji tried to keep a straight face as Hinata approached them.

"What happened?" asked Hinata worriedly, too afraid to hear the answer.

"He collapsed in his study last night," answered Neji.

"Do they know why? What's going on with father now?" Hinata asked hurriedly as she couldn't take not knowing about her father's condition.

"He's stable now," said Hanabi.

Hinata took a sigh of relief before asking to go in to see her father. He was still asleep so she didn't get to talk to him but she saw how thin he looked. Hinata had noticed that he had been getting thinner t for the last two years and his skin was getting paler. She had asked him about his health, and he always brush it aside, but Hinata was worried about him. She didn't know that her father's health had progressed to be this bad that he fainted.

 _He doesn't look after himself, and he hasn't been eating properly. I have to make sure that he's taking care of himself,_ thought Hinata as she grabbed one of her father's hand and rubbed the back of it with her thumb. She brought it up and kissed the back of it before placing it on her cheek. Her father loved his family and no one could dispute that, but he wasn't very good at showing his affection openly, so it was rare for Hinata to have a chance to hold him like this.

After staying with her father for some time, Hinata stepped out into the waiting to see that no one had left. She went to sit right between Naruto and Hanabi. She looked towards Neji and Hanabi to find that they were suspiciously trying to avoid her gaze. She furrowed her brows at this before asking them.

"Have they said why he collapsed?"

"It was because of too much exertion of the body," answered Neji.

Hanabi gave Neji a look before she said, "Hinata–" but he cut her off before she could say anything more.

"Hanabi, don't you have homework from university. You should go home and finish that. I'll bring your father home when he's discharged," said Neji as he frowned at her.

Hinata saw that but thought nothing of it since Neji was always very particular about schoolwork so it wasn't out of the ordinary if he frowned at Hanabi for not doing her schoolwork.

Tenten took Hanabi home while Neji, Hinata, and Naruto waited for her father to be discharged. After about 20 minutes, a nurse came in and told them that Hiashi had just woken up and was about to be discharged. Hinata and Naruto went inside to help her father walk out while Neji brought the car from the parking lot. They all sat in and drove to the Hyuga estate in silence. Hinata had tried asking her father if he was okay or what had happened but he only answered by saying that she shouldn't worry too much and that he would explain to her later. Hinata was becoming more and more worried about him because she could see that he was looking worse than when she had seen him just two weeks ago.

 _I just hope it's not something serious._


	14. Chapter 14

**_Hello everyone! I'm really really sorry that it took me so long to get to this story. I got busy with work, but honestly it took me a while to find some ideas to continue the story. I hope you enjoy it and leave comments for feedbacks and suggestions!_** ** _Thank you to all of you who commented. No matter what is written, it still means a lot to me because someone is taking their time to write their opinions or thoughts down for me. So thank you!_**

 **Chapter 14**

It was a week after Hiashi's visit to the hospital that he called Hinata to join him for dinner. He had told her that he wanted to speak to her and Hinata could not stop worrying about the content of their discussion.

"I'm glad you came Hinata. I know we see each other often but it has been a while since I got to speak to you properly." Hiashi sat at his desk while Hinata sat in front of him. They had moved to his study after finishing dinner. Now that they were alone Hinata had many questions to ask her father but she waited for him to speak about what he wanted to tell her.

"I always enjoy my time when I spend it with you, Hanabi, and Neji," smiled Hinata. "You wanted to talk to me about something, dad."

"Yes," Hiashi took a deep breath preparing himself for something. "Hinata, you've grown to be such a strong person. Although you went against my wishes and did things on your own, I am very proud of you. I want you to know that, and also that I love you very much. You, Hanabi, and Neji are my only family, and it saddens me to tell you this. I had decided not to tell you this a while ago but now it seems that I might not have any other choice… Hinata, I… I have cancer." Hiashi stayed quiet for a little while, giving Hinata time to understand. Seeing how her expression changed, he continued, "They're giving me the best treatment and so far it has shown improvement but they haven't gotten rid of the tumor entirely… Hinata, are you listening to me?"

"How long have you had cancer?" Hinata's eyes were starting to tear up.

"Three years. They were able to remove the tumor completely when it happened the first time but now it seems like it's back."

"Three years!? You've had this for so long. Why didn't you tell me!?" Hinata was crying now without any intention of stopping her tears.

"I didn't want you to be worried. You were in school, doing your best, and I didn't want to give you a reason to come back without completing your studies."

"I could've continued from here! I could've transferred here, somewhere closer to home!"

"No Hinata, it was the first time you made a decision for your life and your future. I didn't want to ruin it for you… I'm sorry." Hiashi's eyes had also teared up after seeing his daughter in such a state. He didn't want to do this for this exact reason. He couldn't bear to see her like this.

"Dad, please don't go anywhere." Hinata hugged her father while sobbing on his shoulder. She couldn't believe that the man she used to be afraid of, who was always so stern and strong might die. She loved him very much and the thought of him not being there made her even sadder.

"Hinata, please don't be sad. The time that I've spent with my family, watching all of you grow up has been the best part of my life. I can't bear to see you sad. The doctors are doing their best and I'm taking my treatment, so don't cry. I'm not going to leave you." Hiashi stroked her head as she held on to him.

Hinata smiled for her father and wiped her tears. She stayed for a while longer then left the main house to go her apartment. She somehow made it there before she fell on her bed. That night she cried herself to sleep.

The next few days Hinata had spent on autopilot mode, trying not to feel anything around her. She was still devastated about what her father had told her but she wasn't going to breakdown in the middle of her work.

When the weekend arrived, Naruto came to visit her. He had been worried about Hiashi the entire week. He was there at the hospital last weekend when Hinata's father was admitted but he didn't know what had happened.

Naruto walked up to Hinata's door and knocked. After a few minutes it was opened and Hinata stood on the other side with a blank expression. Naruto wanted to spend as much time with her as possible to make up for the past years that he couldn't but seeing her in such a mood worried him. He followed Hinata as she walked back into her apartment. She sat at her couch while staring blankly at the mute TV screen.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Naruto was worried that something might have happened to her because he had never seen her like this.

"I spoke to my father last week, and he told me why he was at the hospital that day," said Hinata without looking at Naruto.

"What did he say?" Naruto sat right next to her, urging her to go on.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before." Hinata threw her head back and stared at ceiling.

"What is it Hinata?" He grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Hinata turned head towards him when she spoke again.

"These past years were such a waste of my life. I was so wrapped up in my own problems of getting over you that I couldn't see what was going on with my family."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was so hung up over you that I couldn't even realize that my dad was sick. Naruto, my dad has cancer, and it started when I was in Suna. He was in remission but now it's back," tears started falling across her cheeks as she spoke about her father. Naruto hugged her and rubbed her back soothingly as he tried to digest what she had just said.

"What have the doctors said?" asked Naruto.

"They are giving him his treatment, and hoping that it might go away like it did before," Hinata sniffed. "I'm such a horrible daughter!"

"Don't say that Hinata, your dad loves you and it's not your fault, okay?" Naruto tried to soothe her as she cried on his shoulder before she pulled away.

"Naruto, I think we shouldn't see each other for a while." Hinata said while avoiding his gaze.

"What do you mean? I was stupid when I was younger but I'm not going to leave you. I want to be here for you, to support you. You did so much for me back in high school and I was too dumb to realize it," said Naruto.

"Leaving Konoha was a mistake. I couldn't be with my family and I couldn't be with my dad when he was going through this. When I see you, I... I remember all that and it makes me feel guilty. So please I just don't want to see you right now."

"Hinata…" Naruto didn't know what to say. He wanted to comfort her but he could see how much the guilt was weighing on her when she would look at him. He felt her pain as well because he knew that he was the reason why she left. He wanted to stay with her, hold her but he controlled himself. Hinata didn't want that right now and he didn't want to push himself and his worry on her. He quietly left her apartment after gently kissing her cheek. He wanted to help her but didn't know how. He just knew that he didn't want to lose her again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Days past by quickly after Naruto saw Hinata. She had been ignoring his calls and she felt bad for avoiding him but she couldn't help feeling angry with him. A part of her felt that it was misplaced anger but at the moment she wanted to blame him. How he could never understand that she was in love with him all this time. How he hurt her when he got together with Sakura. He wasn't with Sakura anymore and she could tell that he cared for Hinata and liked her but she still couldn't let go of her anger.

She had started accompanying her father at the hospital when he would go for his chemotherapy. Every time she would feel pain at her realization that she was so blind to see what was going on with him and how she could've lost him.

It was the middle of the week and Naruto decided to meet Hinata at her work. She had been ignoring him since the last time they spoke. He waited outside the school she worked at and an hour after the children left, she walked out. He walked up to her car when she reached and spoke to her.

"Hinata," she looked around to see Naruto approaching her. She thought about jumping into her car and driving away without having to talk to him but she frowned remembering how she was doing exactly what she did in high school. She was avoiding him and she berated herself for letting him have such a control on her emotions and life. She had made one of the biggest decisions of her life just because of how she felt about him. She decided that it was time she got over it. She didn't spend all those years away just to act like a schoolgirl again in front of him.

"Yes, Naruto?" said Hinata as she turned to look at him. He was surprised that she wasn't going to try and avoid him.

"Uh… How are you? I was worried about you after I saw you last weekend. I couldn't talk to you either so I wanted to check up on you."

"Oh, I'm fine, and I was just busy so I couldn't answer your calls." Hinata bit her lip at the excuse she just told him.

"Oh, okay… While I'm here, do you want to grab dinner?"

"Sure," nodded Hinata.

They went to a small Italian restaurant close to her work. They sat at a table and ordered some food before it got quiet for a while until one of them spoke.

"I'm… afraid," confessed Naruto. Hinata looked up, puzzled at what he said.

"What are you afraid about?"

"I'm afraid that…I'll lose you again. When you left, I was really devastated. Things didn't work out between Sakura and me. She would say that I was always so depressed when I should be supporting your decision, but I couldn't. And now, I'm afraid that you're going to do the same thing, that you'll try to drift away from me again, and I don't want to lose you. Not this time. Not when I know that I lo- "

"My father might die, Naruto. I want to be with him as much as I can." Hinata cut him off before he could finish.

"I know that, which is why I want to be there for you. Don't try to push me away, please." Their food arrived right when Naruto said that. They ate in silence again, and after paying the bill Hinata spoke when they walked to their cars.

"I feel so stupid for ever falling in love with you." Hinata cried into her hands when she arrived at her car. Naruto, who was standing in front of her, wrapped his arms around her and brought her to his chest.

"All you've ever done is hurt me!" she cried in to his chest. "You never acknowledged it even when I said it. Always chasing someone else. I just can't believe I let myself get so affected by you. I was so stupid that I ran away from you, from my home, my friends and family, just because I was so in love with you that it hurt." Hinata kept crying as Naruto's eyes also began to tear up.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata. I'm so sorry. I was an idiot. Please, let me make it up to you." He whispered as he pulled her closer to his body. She lightly pushed at his chest as she sniffed a bit more before calming herself.

"I don't care anymore. I just want to take care of my dad, and be with my family. I don't care about you. I don't want to deal with you anymore."

"So let me help you. I want to be with you. I love you," Naruto said as he looked into her eyes.

"But I don't love you," said Hinata quickly looking away only for a moment. Naruto's arms loosened around Hinata and she took this opportunity to twist of his hold and get to her car.

"You're lying," whispered Naruto.

"No, I'm not, Naruto." he grabbed her hand before she could sit down in her car. She moved her head towards him and looked into his eye when he said.

"I'm not giving up on you. I love you." With that Naruto let go of her hand.

After a moment Hinata finally looked away and got in her car. She drove back to her apartment. She was so emotionally drained when she reached home that sleep took over her soon after.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

For the past month, Hinata had been taking her father to his treatments at the hospital, and every time she arrived she would be greeted by Naruto with flowers or snacks at the entrance. How he found out about the appointments she did not know, but he would stay with her and her father the entire time as Hiashi was receiving his treatment.

He would try to talk to Hinata but often ended up having a conversation just with Hiashi. They would talk about everything. From random things like the weather, politics, work, to things about his cancer and treatment.

Somehow her father was enjoying the company even though he used to complain about how loud he used to be. Hinata had told herself that she wasn't going to let herself be carried away with emotions when it came to Naruto, but she was grateful for how he was making her father feel. In the reality of his dire condition Naruto always managed to make Hiashi forget. Soon he was like that with all the patients, from children to older people, who were getting their treatment at the same time as Hiashi. He would tell them stories or make them laugh with his rumbustious and animated actions. Hinata could see all the reasons why she fell in love with him. He was caring towards everyone especially those who needed it the most and he was determined to help anyone no matter what the expense was. Even if he was there for her, she knew that he really wanted to this for all of them. He was truly caring and an inspiration for her.

"Thank you, Naruto," said Hinata as they waited for Hiashi, who was in the restroom, so they could leave.

Naruto only smiled at her as they made their way back to the car. Hiashi saw this and could not help but be thankful for Naruto. He didn't know if he was going to survive this, but he at least knew that his daughter had someone to rely upon, and take care of her if he were gone. Hanabi and Neji always had Hinata to rely upon whenever something happened, but she needed someone to look after he as well.

* * *

It was almost after 8 months of treatment when the doctor examined Hiashi's condition and declared that his cancer was showing signs of improvements. After removing the tumor through surgery he was going to be in complete remission. The doctor was going to keep checking his condition but Hiashi's cancer had been removed so he was out of any danger from that.

Hinata was too happy to form any words. It was emotionally stressing and physically draining for her. She had started staying at the Hyuga compound with her father once the symptoms from chemotherapy had gotten worse. There would be days when she could not help but feel like her world was about to crash. Through out all of that Naruto had stayed by her side consoling her and comforting her. She wanted to give up one too many times, her heart too heavy with grief and guilt but he would always push her to keep moving forward for herself and her father.

Now, Hinata was out talking and hanging out with her friends from high school. They had gathered up at a local restaurant to form a sort of a mini reunion. It was her first time going out in almost a year. Her father had assured her many times for a month that he was okay before she decided to relax and catch up with her friends. It had been so long since she had seen any of them.

Everyone was gathered in the restaurant where almost every table was booked by them. After catching up with everyone, Hinata couldn't help but notice all the couples that had formed. There was Shikamaru with Temari, Tenten and Neji, and Ino with Sai. Sasuke had finally returned to Konoha when she made her return as well, and it seemed that things had gotten better between him and Sakura.

Hinata smiled to herself as someone decided to sit right next to her. She looked up to see blue eyes looking at her with warmth and a small smile playing on his lips. She smiled back brightly before turning towards the crowd in front of her.

As she observed everyone, a hand slowly slipped itself into hers under the table. She looked up again at Naruto and smiled when she pulled her fingers through his and light gave his hand a light squeeze.

She had gone through so much before coming to that point, but at that moment she felt content with everything in her life. She couldn't really say that it was easy or that she didn't regret anything in her life, but she knew that at that moment she was exactly where she wanted to be.


End file.
